Method and device for collecting location information

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and device for collecting location information. The method includes: sending a location subscription instruction to a user equipment (UE) by using a mobile communication network, where the location subscription instruction includes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected by the UE; receiving instruction response information reported by the UE, where the instruction response information includes an identity (ID) of the UE, an ID of the cell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE; and acquiring location information of the UE according to the received instruction response information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/195,635, filed on Jun. 28, 2016, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2014/093025, filed on Dec. 4, 2014,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310752729.X,filed on Dec. 31, 2013. All of the afore-mentioned patent applicationsare hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a method and device for collectinglocation information.

BACKGROUND

As mobile communication network data increases explosively, operatorshope that, in addition to providing a “transmission” pipe function, acurrent network can also provide an “information” pipe function, so asto implement information openness. In a mobile communication network,there are multiple uses for collecting location information of a mobilesubscriber, for example, data analysis used in multiple industries. Forexample, location information may be used for transportation planning ofa “smart city”. Population distribution is analyzed by using locationinformation of mobile subscribers, so as to carry out work in, forexample, smart transportation planning.

In the prior art, there is a method for acquiring location informationof a user. Specifically, user equipment (UE) may locate a location ofthe user equipment by using a satellite, for example, locating by usinga global positioning system (GPS). After a user logs in to a server byusing an application program installed on the user equipment, the userequipment locates the location of the user equipment by using thesatellite and reports location information to the server, and the serverperforms a further application operation according to the locationinformation reported by the user equipment.

It is found that an application scenario of acquiring the locationinformation of the user in the prior art is greatly limited, anduniversality is poor.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device forcollecting location information. Location information of user equipmentcan be acquired in indoor and outdoor scenarios in which the userequipment is located and in a scenario in which no specific applicationprogram is installed on the user equipment; universality is very strong.

To resolve the foregoing technical problems, the embodiments of thepresent invention provide the following technical solutions:

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a method for collecting location information, where the methodincludes:

sending a location subscription instruction to user equipment UE byusing a mobile communication network, where the location subscriptioninstruction includes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected bythe UE;

receiving instruction response information reported by the UE, where theinstruction response information includes an ID of the UE, an ID of thecell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE; and

acquiring location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the mobile communication network is aUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System UMTS network, and when the UEis in a cell-dedicated channel Cell DCH state on the UMTS network, thesending a location subscription instruction to user equipment UE byusing a mobile communication network is:

sending, by a radio network controller RNC, a measurement controlmessage to the UE by using the UMTS network, so that the UE measures,according to the measurement control message, the cell detected by theUE; and

the receiving instruction response information reported by the UEincludes:

receiving, by the RNC, a measurement report message sent by the UE,where the measurement report message includes the ID of the UE, the IDof the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information ofthe cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the UE includes:

when the UE is in an idle mode on a UMTS network, receiving, by an RNC,a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message sent by theUE, where the RRC connection request message includes the ID of the UE,the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the first aspect, in a third possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the UE includes:

when the UE is in a cell-forward access channel Cell FACH state, a cellpaging channel Cell PCH state, or a Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem terrestrial radio access network registration area paging channel(URA PCH) state on a UMTS network, receiving, by an RNC, a cell updatemessage sent by the UE, where the cell update message includes the ID ofthe UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the first possible or second possible or thirdpossible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, the signal strengthinformation is received signal code power RSCP information or ratio ofenergy per modulating bit to the noise spectral density Ec/Noinformation.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the mobile communication network is a LongTerm Evolution LTE network, and when the UE is in a connected mode onthe LTE network, the sending a location subscription instruction to userequipment UE by using a mobile communication network is:

sending, by an evolved NodeB eNodeB, a measurement control message tothe UE by using the LTE network, so that the UE measures, according tothe measurement control message, the cell detected by the UE; and

the receiving instruction response information reported by the UEincludes:

receiving, by the eNodeB, a measurement report message sent by the UE,where the measurement report message includes the ID of the UE, the IDof the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information ofthe cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the UE includes:

when the UE is in an idle mode on an LTE network, receiving, by aneNodeB, an RRC connection request message sent by the UE, where the RRCconnection request message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the celldetected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

With reference to the fifth possible or sixth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation mannerof the first aspect, the signal strength information is reference signalreceived power RSRP information or reference signal received qualityRSRQ information.

With reference to the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the mobile communication network is a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, and when the UE is in ageneral packet radio service transfer (GPRS Transfer) mode on the GSMnetwork, the sending a location subscription instruction to userequipment UE by using a mobile communication network is:

sending, by a base station controller BSC, a measurement control messageto the UE by using the GSM network, so that the UE measures, accordingto the measurement control message, the cell detected by the UE; and

the receiving instruction response information reported by the UEincludes:

receiving, by the BSC, a measurement report message sent by the UE,where the measurement report message includes the ID of the UE, the IDof the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information ofthe cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the UE includes:

when the UE is in a general packet radio service packet idle (GPRSPacket Idle) mode on a GSM network, receiving, by a BSC, a connectionrequest message sent by the UE, where the connection request messageincludes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, andthe signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the eighth possible or ninth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, the signal strength information is received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) information.

With reference to the first aspect, in an eleventh possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, after the receivinginstruction response information reported by the UE, the method furtherincludes:

encrypting the ID of the UE to obtain an anonymous identity, where theanonymous identity is in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID of theUE.

With reference to the first aspect, in a twelfth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the ID of the UE is an international mobilesubscriber identity IMSI.

With reference to the first aspect, in a thirteenth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, the location subscriptioninstruction includes: instructing the UE to measure, according to apreconfigured measurement period, the cell detected by the UE;

the receiving instruction response information reported by the UEincludes:

receiving multiple pieces of instruction response information reportedby the UE according to the preconfigured measurement period; and

the acquiring location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information includes:

obtaining location movement information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the multiple pieces of received instructionresponse information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fourteenth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, the acquiring locationinformation of the UE according to the received instruction responseinformation includes:

sending the received instruction response information to a data storage,analysis and open platform, and obtaining, by the data storage, analysisand open platform, the location information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the instruction response information.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionfurther provides a device for collecting location information, where thedevice includes:

an instruction sending module, configured to send a locationsubscription instruction to user equipment UE by using a mobilecommunication network, where the location subscription instructionincludes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected by the UE;

an information receiving module, configured to receive instructionresponse information reported by the UE, where the instruction responseinformation includes an ID of the UE, an ID of the cell detected by theUE, and signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE; and

a location information acquiring module, configured to acquire locationinformation of the UE according to the received instruction responseinformation.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is aUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, and when theUE is in a cell-dedicated channel Cell DCH state on the UMTS network,the device for collecting location information is a radio networkcontroller RNC;

the instruction sending module is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the UMTS network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module is configured to receive a measurementreport message sent by the UE, where the measurement report messageincludes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, andthe signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is a UMTSnetwork, and the device for collecting location information is a radionetwork controller (RNC); and

the information receiving module is configured to: when the UE is in anidle mode on the UMTS network, receive a radio resource control (RRC)connection request message sent by the UE, where the RRC connectionrequest message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detectedby the UE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected bythe UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a third possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is a UMTSnetwork, and the device for collecting location information is a radionetwork controller RNC; and

the information receiving module is configured to: when the UE is in acell-forward access channel Cell FACH state, a cell paging channel CellPCH state, or a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System terrestrialradio access network registration area paging channel URA PCH state onthe UMTS network, receive a cell update message sent by the UE, wherethe cell update message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the celldetected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

With reference to the first possible or second possible or thirdpossible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner of the second aspect, the signal strengthinformation received by the information receiving module is receivedsignal code power RSCP information or ratio of energy per modulating bitto the noise spectral density Ec/No information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is a LongTerm Evolution LTE network, and when the UE is in a connected mode onthe LTE network,

the device for collecting location information is an evolved NodeBeNodeB;

the instruction sending module is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the LTE network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module is configured to receive a measurementreport message sent by the UE, where the measurement report messageincludes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, andthe signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is an LTEnetwork, and the device for collecting location information is anevolved NodeB eNodeB; and

the information receiving module is configured to: when the UE is in anidle mode on the LTE network, receive an RRC connection request messagesent by the UE, where the RRC connection request message includes anS1AP ID of the UE, an ID of a cell in which the UE is located, the ID ofthe cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of thecell detected by the UE.

With reference to the fifth possible or sixth possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation mannerof the second aspect, the signal strength information received by theinformation receiving module is reference signal received power RSRPinformation or reference signal received quality RSRQ information.

With reference to the second aspect, in an eighth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Global System for Mobile Communications GSM network, andwhen the UE is in a general packet radio service transfer (GPRSTransfer) mode on the GSM network, the device for collecting locationinformation is a base station controller BSC;

the instruction sending module is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the GSM network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module is configured to receive a measurementreport message sent by the UE, where the measurement report messageincludes the ID of the UE, an ID of a cell in which the UE is located,the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a ninth possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the mobile communication network is a GSMnetwork, and the device for collecting location information is a basestation controller (BSC); and

the information receiving module is configured to: when the UE is in ageneral packet radio service packet idle (GPRS Packet Idle) mode on theGSM network, receive a connection request message sent by the UE, wherethe connection request message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of thecell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

With reference to the eighth possible or ninth possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, in a tenth possible implementation mannerof the second aspect, the signal strength information received by theinformation receiving module is received signal strength indicator RSSIinformation.

With reference to the second aspect, in an eleventh possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, the device for collectinglocation information further includes an encryption module, configuredto: after the location information acquiring module receives theinstruction response information reported by the UE, encrypt the ID thatis of the UE and that is included in the instruction responseinformation, to obtain an anonymous identity, where the anonymousidentity is in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID of the UE.

With reference to the second aspect, in a twelfth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, the ID that is of the UE andthat is included in the instruction response information received by theinformation receiving module is an international mobile subscriberidentity IMSI.

With reference to the second aspect, in a thirteenth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, the location subscriptioninstruction sent by the instruction sending module included: instructingthe UE to measure, according to a preconfigured measurement period, thecell detected by the UE;

the information receiving module is configured to receive multiplepieces of instruction response information reported by the UE accordingto the preconfigured measurement period; and

the location information acquiring module is configured to obtainlocation movement information of the UE by means of calculationaccording to the multiple pieces of received instruction responseinformation.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fourteenth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, the location informationacquiring module is configured to send the received instruction responseinformation to a data storage, analysis and open platform, and the datastorage, analysis and open platform obtains the location information ofthe UE by means of calculation according to the instruction responseinformation.

It can be learned from the foregoing technical solutions that theembodiments of the present invention have the following advantages:

In the embodiments of the present invention, first, a locationsubscription instruction is sent to UE by using a mobile communicationnetwork, so as to instruct the UE to measure, according to the locationsubscription instruction, a cell detected by the UE; after the UEgenerates, according to the location subscription instruction, an ID ofthe cell detected by the UE and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE, instruction response information reported by the UEis received, where the instruction response information includes an IDof the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE; finally, locationinformation of the UE may be acquired according to the receivedinstruction response information. In the embodiments of the presentinvention, because a location subscription instruction may be deliveredto UE, location information of the UE may be acquired according toreceived instruction response information reported by the UE, and the UEdoes not need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the instructionresponse information reported by the UE can be received provided that awireless network signal is available. In addition, in the embodiments ofthe present invention, the location information of the UE can beacquired by using the existing mobile communication network, and the UEdoes not need to successfully log in to a server by using a specificapplication program; therefore, a problem of application programpromotion does not exist. Therefore, the method for collecting locationinformation provided in the embodiments of the present invention is notlimited to an application scenario such as an indoor scenario, anoutdoor scenario, or whether an application program is installed, andhas very strong universality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments.Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description showmerely some embodiments of the present invention, and persons skilled inthe art may still derive other drawings from these accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block flowchart of a method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block flowchart of another method for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of composition of a network architectureof a system for collecting location information that is implementedaccording to a method for collecting location information according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of work processes of components in asystem for collecting location information according to an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 11-a is a schematic diagram of a specific implementation manner, ona mobile communication network, of a device for collecting locationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11-b is a schematic diagram of another specific implementationmanner, on a mobile communication network, of a device for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11-c is a schematic diagram of another specific implementationmanner, on a mobile communication network, of a device for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11-d is a schematic diagram of another specific implementationmanner, on a mobile communication network, of a device for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11-e is a schematic diagram of another specific implementationmanner, on a mobile communication network, of a device for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11-f is a schematic diagram of another specific implementationmanner, on a mobile communication network, of a device for collectinglocation information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12-a is a schematic structural diagram of composition of a devicefor collecting location information according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 12-b is another schematic structural diagram of composition of adevice for collecting location information according to an embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 13 is another schematic structural diagram of composition of adevice for collecting location information according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device forcollecting location information. Location information of user equipmentcan be acquired in indoor and outdoor scenarios in which the userequipment is located and in a scenario in which no specific applicationprogram is installed on the user equipment; universality is very strong.

To make the objectives, features, and advantages of the presentinvention clearer and more comprehensible, the following describes thetechnical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention withreference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the presentinvention. Apparently, the embodiments described in the following aremerely some rather than all of the embodiments of the present invention.All other embodiments obtained by persons skilled in the art based onthe embodiments of the present invention shall fall within theprotection scope of the present invention.

In the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of the presentinvention, the terms “include”, “comprise” and any other variants meanto cover the non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, system,product, or device that includes a list of units is not necessarilylimited to those units, but may include other units not expressly listedor inherent to such a process, method, system, product, or device.

Details are separately illustrated in the following.

In the present invention, an embodiment of a method for collectinglocation information may be applied to location information collectionof user equipment, and the method may include: sending a locationsubscription instruction to user equipment (UE) by using a mobilecommunication network, where the location subscription instructionincludes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected by the UE;receiving instruction response information reported by the UE, where theinstruction response information includes an identity (ID) of the UE, anID of the cell detected by the UE, and signal strength information ofthe cell detected by the UE; and acquiring location information of theUE according to the received instruction response information.

Referring to FIG. 1, a method for collecting location informationprovided in an embodiment of the present invention may include:

101. Send a location subscription instruction to UE by using a mobilecommunication network.

The location subscription instruction includes: instructing the UE tomeasure a cell detected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, because a device forcollecting location information and the UE are on the same mobilecommunication network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the device for collecting location information and the UE, sothat communication between the device for collecting locationinformation and the UE may be implemented.

First, when the device for collecting location information needs tocollect a location information of the UE, the device for collectinglocation information may send the location subscription instruction tothe UE by using the mobile communication network, and the device forcollecting location information instructs, by using the locationsubscription instruction, the UE to measure the cell detected by the UE.It should be noted that a specific instruction format of the locationsubscription instruction sent by the device for collecting locationinformation to the UE may be negotiated between the device forcollecting location information and the UE, so as to determine aninstruction format used for transferring the location subscriptioninstruction, or an instruction format already constructed on the mobilecommunication network may be used to transfer the location subscriptioninstruction. Specifically, how to transfer the location subscriptioninstruction may be determined according to a network standard of themobile communication network, or an existing signaling format on themobile communication network may be modified or redefined, so as to beused for transferring the location subscription instruction. Inaddition, when the UE receives the location subscription instructionsent by the device for collecting location information, the UE maymeasure the cell detected by the UE.

102. Receive instruction response information reported by the UE.

The instruction response information includes an ID of the UE, an ID ofthe cell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, after the device forcollecting location information delivers the location subscriptioninstruction to the UE, and after the UE measures, according to thelocation subscription instruction, the cell detected by the UE, the UEmay acquire the ID of the cell detected by the UE and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE. The ID of the celldetected by the UE refers to an ID of a cell in which the UE is locatedand an ID of a neighboring cell. In addition, there may be one or morecells detected by the UE. The UE generates the instruction responseinformation, and adds, to the instruction response information, the IDof the cell detected by the UE, the signal strength information of eachcell detected by the UE, and the ID of the UE. The UE sends, by usingthe mobile communication network, the instruction response informationto the device for collecting location information, and therefore, thedevice for collecting location information may receive, by using themobile communication network, the instruction response informationreported by the UE. The neighboring cell of the cell in which the UE islocated refers to a cell adjacent to the cell in which the UE islocated. Multiple neighboring cells of the cell in which the UE islocated may be recorded in a Cell ID list of the neighboring cell. Thesignal strength information in each cell of the UE refers to signalstrength of the cell in which the UE is located and signal strength of aneighboring cell of the cell in which the UE is located.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,there may be multiple implementation manners of measuring, by the UEaccording to the location subscription instruction, the cell detected bythe UE. For example, the UE may measure, in a manner that is formeasuring the cell in which the UE is located and that exists in themobile communication network, the cell detected by the UE, to generatethe instruction response information of the UE and report theinstruction response information of the UE to the device for collectinglocation information. In subsequent embodiments, for multiple standardsof mobile communication networks and for different states of the UE onthe mobile communication networks, that the UE measures the celldetected by the UE is described.

It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention,after the receiving instruction response information reported by the UEin step 102, the method may further include the following step:

encrypting the ID that is of the UE and that is included in theinstruction response information, to obtain an anonymous identity, wherethe anonymous identity is in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID ofthe UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the ID that is of the UEand that is included in the instruction response information may be aninternational mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), or may certainly beanother identity that identifies the UE. To avoid an unnecessary losscaused, to a user using the UE, by the location information of the UE,after receiving the instruction response information reported by the UE,the device for collecting location information may further encrypt theID of the UE, to obtain the anonymous identity, where the anonymousidentity is in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID of the UE. Thatis, anonymization processing on the ID of the UE may well ensure thatprivacy of the user is not leaked. In addition, an anonymous identity isfurther generated when anonymization processing is performed on the IDof the UE. Therefore, the location information of the UE may furthercorrespond to the anonymous identity, and a further operation for thelocation information of the UE is not affected in subsequentapplication.

For example, an actual ID (the IMSI) of the user may be included whenthe UE reports the instruction response information to the device forcollecting location information. Anonymizing the ID of the UE mayimplement encryption of the IMSI to obtain an IMSI′, therebyestablishing a one-to-one correspondence between the IMSI and the IMSI′.When data analysis is performed on location information of UE, the IMSI′is used to correspond to location information of the UE, and therefore,user privacy may be effectively protected from being leaked.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,there may be multiple implementation manners of encrypting the ID of theUE. For example, the ID of the UE may be encrypted according to dataencryption standard (DES). This algorithm has a relatively high speedand is applicable to a scenario in which a large amount of data is to beencrypted. Alternatively, the ID of the UE may also be encryptedaccording to international data encryption algorithm (IDEA). A 128-bitkey is used in this algorithm, and therefore, extremely good securitycan be provided.

103. Acquire location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, after the device forcollecting location information receives the instruction responseinformation reported by the UE, the device for collecting locationinformation may acquire the location information of the UE according tothe received instruction response information. The location informationrefers to longitude and latitude location information of the UE. Thatis, the location of the UE is represented by using geographiccoordinates.

There may be multiple implementation manners of acquiring the locationinformation of the UE according to the received instruction responseinformation. Based on the ID of the cell detected by the UE and thesignal strength of each cell detected by the UE that are carried in theinstruction response information, the ID of the cell detected by the UEmay be acquired from the instruction response information; therefore, abase station to which the UE attaches may be determined. Because thebase station is generally fixed at a location, and longitude andlatitude location information is determined, first, a general locationof the UE is determined, and then the location information of the UE maybe obtained by means of precise calculation according to the signalstrength in each cell of the UE.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention, thedevice for collecting location information may simultaneously deliverthe location subscription instruction to multiple UEs, and each of themultiple UEs measures a cell detected by the UE, and then may acquire anID of the cell detected by the UE. Each UE reports, by using the mobilecommunication network, instruction response information of the UE to thedevice for collecting location information, and the device forcollecting location information may acquire multiple pieces of locationinformation of the UEs, so that data analysis may further be performedon these pieces of location information of the UEs for application to avariety of industry applications such as transportation planning andmarketing analysis.

It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention,specifically, the device for collecting location information may performcalculation on the received instruction response information, so as toacquire the location information of the UE. After obtaining the locationinformation of the UEs by means of calculation, the device forcollecting location information may send the location information to adata storage, analysis and open platform. The data storage, analysis andopen platform performs further data analysis on these pieces of locationinformation of the UEs for application to a variety of industryapplications such as transportation planning and marketing analysis. Thedata storage, analysis and open platform, specially used for storing andanalyzing big data, may be independent of an existing mobilecommunication network and may be a new device superimposed over themobile communication network. In some other embodiments of the presentinvention, the acquiring location information of the UE according to thereceived instruction response information in step 103 may include thefollowing step:

sending the received instruction response information to a data storage,analysis and open platform, and obtaining, by the data storage, analysisand open platform, the location information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the instruction response information.

After the device for collecting location information receives theinstruction response information reported by the UE, the device forcollecting location information sends the received instruction responseinformation to the data storage, analysis and open platform, and thedata storage, analysis and open platform obtains the locationinformation of the UE by means of calculation according to theinstruction response information of the UE. That is, after the devicefor collecting location information receives the instruction responseinformation of the UE, the data storage, analysis and open platformobtains the location information of the UE by means of calculation;therefore, distributed deployment of devices can be implemented toreduce a performance requirement on a single device, and calculation forthe location information of the UE can also be implemented. For example,when the device for collecting location information has a limitedcalculation capability or load balancing needs to be performed, if alarge amount of instruction response information reported by the UE isreceived, the device for collecting location information may obtain somelocation information of the UE by means of calculation, and sendsinstruction response information beyond the calculation capability ofthe device for collecting location information to the data storage,analysis and open platform, and the data storage, analysis and openplatform obtains the other location information of the UE by means ofcalculation, so that distributed deployment of devices can beimplemented.

It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention,the location subscription instruction includes: instructing the UE tomeasure, according to a preconfigured measurement period, the celldetected by the UE, where the receiving instruction response informationreported by the UE in step 102 includes:

receiving multiple pieces of instruction response information reportedby the UE according to the preconfigured measurement period; and

the acquiring location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information in step 103 includes:

obtaining location movement information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the multiple pieces of received instructionresponse information.

If the location subscription instruction delivered by the device forcollecting location information to the UE instructs the UE to measure,according to the preconfigured measurement period, the cell detected bythe UE, the UE periodically measures the cell detected by the UEaccording to the preconfigured measurement period, and the UE generatesinstruction response information in every measurement period. Forexample, the measurement period is 12 seconds (s). Therefore the UEperiodically generates multiple pieces of instruction responseinformation. The device for collecting location information may receivethe multiple pieces of instruction response information of the UE. Afterpieces of location information of the UE are separately obtained bymeans of calculation according to the multiple pieces of instructionresponse information of the UE, cluster analysis is performed on thesepieces of location information of the UE obtained by means ofcalculation, and then the location movement information of the UE may beobtained by means of calculation. The location movement informationrefers to a movement and change status of the location of the UE withina time period, and generally, the location movement information may alsobe referred to as a digital footprint file; that is, a movement trail ofthe UE may be depicted by using the location movement information.Further data analysis performed on these pieces of information may beapplied to a variety of industry applications such as transportationplanning and marketing analysis. The preconfigured measurement periodmay be configured according to a requirement of an application service,impact on power consumption of the UE, and impact on network load, so asto achieve an optimal effect. Moreover, frequency of signaling reportingof the UE may be controlled according to the preconfigured measurementperiod, and therefore may be adjusted according to impact on networkperformance, avoiding causing too much impact on the network load. Ifthe UE frequently reports signaling, an enormous amount of signalingneeds to be processed, which increases a burden on the UE. Frequencythat the UE reports the instruction response message may be adjusted bysetting the measurement period, thereby not only meeting an applicationrequirement but also avoiding increasing a great burden on the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the UE is inevitablylocated on the mobile communication network. To locate the location ofthe UE, it is found by analyzing the mobile communication network that,as a cellular network, the mobile communication network may be used tolocate the UE. For example, a cell to which the UE attaches on thecellular network may be used for performing locating. That is, thelocation of the UE is determined by using a location of the cell.Because a base station on a cellular network manages one or more cells,and UE attaches to the cell, the UE that attaches to the cell managed bythe base station can be located by using a deployment location of thebase station; therefore, location information of the UE is acquired.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,collecting the location information of the UE may be implemented withoutrequiring installing a specific application program on the UE or withoutrequiring logging in to a server by the UE. In this embodiment of thepresent invention, the location information of the UE can be collectedprovided that the UE can normally communicate, and the method does notdepend on a standard of the mobile communication network or a type ofthe UE. In this embodiment of the present invention, no matter whetherthe UE is an ordinary terminal or an intelligent terminal, provided thata wireless network signal is available, the location information of theUE can be successfully collected by using a communication connectionbetween the device for collecting location information and the UE.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, first, a location subscription instructionis sent to UE by using a mobile communication network, so as to instructthe UE to measure, according to the location subscription instruction, acell detected by the UE; after the UE generates, according to thelocation subscription instruction, an ID of the cell detected by the UEand signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE,instruction response information reported by the UE is received, wherethe instruction response information includes an ID of the UE, the ID ofthe cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of thecell detected by the UE; finally, location information of the UE may beacquired according to the received instruction response information. Inthis embodiment of the present invention, because a locationsubscription instruction may be delivered to UE, location information ofthe UE may be acquired according to received instruction responseinformation reported by the UE, and the UE does not need to locate alocation of the UE by using a satellite, electricity of the UE may besaved. For a mobile communication network, no matter whether the UE isindoors or outdoors, the instruction response information reported bythe UE can be received provided that a wireless network signal isavailable. In addition, in this embodiment of the present invention, thelocation information of the UE can be acquired by using the existingmobile communication network, and the UE does not need to successfullylog in to a server by using a specific application program; therefore, aproblem of application program promotion does not exist. Therefore, themethod for collecting location information provided in this embodimentof the present invention is not limited to an application scenario suchas an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario, or whether an applicationprogram is installed; universality is very strong.

Details are described in the following for standards of different mobilecommunication networks and states of the UE on the mobile networks.However, the following embodiments provide only some standards of mobilecommunication networks, which may be applied to other standards ofmobile communication networks according to technical features describedin the embodiments of the present invention. The description herein isonly for an illustration purpose, and is not used to limit the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 2, when a mobile communication network is a universalmobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network, a method for collectinglocation information provided in another embodiment of the presentinvention may include the following steps:

201. When UE is in a cell-dedicated channel (Cell DCH) state on the UMTSnetwork, a radio network controller (RNC) sends a measurement controlmessage to the UE by using the UMTS network, so that the UE measures,according to the measurement control message, a cell detected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the UMTS network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the RNC. Because the RNC and the UE are onthe same UMTS network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the RNC and the UE, so that communication between the RNC andthe UE may be implemented.

When the UE is in the Cell DCH state on the UMTS network, the RNC sendsthe measurement control message to the UE by using the UMTS network. Thesending a location subscription instruction to UE by using a mobilecommunication network in the foregoing embodiment may be: sending, bythe RNC, the Measurement Control message to the UE by using the UMTSnetwork, so that the UE may measure, according to an instruction of theMeasurement Control message, the cell detected by the UE. Aftermeasuring, according to the Measurement Control message, the celldetected by the UE, the UE may generate an ID of a cell in which the UEis located and an ID of a neighboring cell of the cell. Afterward, theUE generates a measurement report message, and adds, to the MeasurementReport message, an ID of the cell detected by the UE and signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE, and then the UE may send theMeasurement Report message to the RNC.

202. The RNC receives a measurement report message sent by the UE.

The measurement report message includes an ID of the UE, the ID of thecell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

The RNC may receive, by using the UMTS network, the Measurement Reportmessage reported by the UE, and therefore may acquire the ID of the UE,the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE, and may implement locatingof the UE according to the information.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention, theUE may periodically report the Measurement Report message to the RNC,for example, report the Measurement Report message of the UE once every12 s, and the Measurement Report message may be the instruction responseinformation described in the foregoing embodiment. In addition, the UEalso reports the Measurement Report message to the RNC when the UEinitiates handover, and the Measurement Report message may also be usedfor location calculation for the UE. Because a piece of longitude andlatitude location information of the UE may be obtained by means ofcalculation according to each Measurement Report message, locationmovement trail information of the UE may be obtained.

203. The RNC acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived measurement report message.

It should be noted that the measurement report message is theinstruction response information reported by the UE in the foregoingembodiment. In some embodiments of the present invention, specifically,the RNC may perform calculation on the received instruction responseinformation, so as to acquire the location information of the UE. Afterobtaining location information of the UE by means of calculation, theRNC may send the location information to a data storage, analysis andopen platform. The data storage, analysis and open platform performsfurther data analysis on these pieces of location information of the UEfor application to a variety of industry applications such astransportation planning and marketing analysis. The data storage,analysis and open platform, specially used for storing and analyzing bigdata, may be independent of an existing mobile communication network andmay be a new device superimposed over the mobile communication network.In some other embodiments of the present invention, the RNC may alsosend the received instruction response information to a data storage,analysis and open platform, and the data storage, analysis and openplatform obtains the location information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the instruction response information.

After the RNC receives the instruction response information reported bythe UE, the RNC sends the received instruction response information tothe data storage, analysis and open platform, and the data storage,analysis and open platform obtains the location information of the UE bymeans of calculation according to the instruction response informationof the UE. That is, after the RNC receives the instruction responseinformation of the UE, the data storage, analysis and open platformobtains the location information of the UE by means of calculation;therefore, distributed deployment of devices can be implemented toreduce a performance requirement on a single device, and calculation forthe location information of the UE can also be implemented. For example,when the RNC has a limited calculation capability or load balancingneeds to be performed, if a large amount of instruction responseinformation reported by the UE is received, the RNC may obtain somelocation information of the UE by means of calculation, and sendsinstruction response information beyond a calculation capability of theRNC to the data storage, analysis and open platform, and the datastorage, analysis and open platform obtains the other locationinformation of the UE by means of calculation, so that distributeddeployment of devices can be implemented.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,when the UE is in the Cell DCH state on the UMTS network, because thelocation information of the UE may be acquired by using the measurementreport message sent by the UE, the location information of the UE can beacquired no matter whether the UE performs a circuit switched (CS)domain service or a packet switched (PS) domain service. In anothermethod for collecting location information existing in the prior art, astandard Iu interface message is acquired by disposing a probe on an Iuinterface, so as to acquire location information of UE. In this externalprobe solution, only location information existing when the UE is on aCS domain voice call is collected, and location information existingwhen the UE performs PS domain data communication cannot be collected.In this embodiment of the present invention, the location information ofthe UE can be acquired no matter whether the UE performs a CS domainservice or a PS domain service.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because an RNC in this embodiment of thepresent invention may deliver a location subscription instruction to UE,and may acquire location information of the UE according to a receivedmeasurement report message sent by the UE, and the UE does not need tolocate a location of the UE by using a satellite, electricity of the UEmay be saved. For a mobile communication network, no matter whether theUE is indoors or outdoors, the measurement report message sent by the UEcan be received provided that a wireless network signal is available. Inaddition, in this embodiment of the present invention, the locationinformation of the UE can be acquired by using the existing mobilecommunication network, and the UE does not need to successfully log into a server by using a specific application program. Therefore, themethod for collecting location information provided in this embodimentof the present invention is not limited to an application scenario suchas an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario, or whether an applicationprogram is installed; universality is very strong.

Referring to FIG. 3, when a mobile communication network is a UMTSnetwork, in a method for collecting location information provided inanother embodiment of the present invention, receiving instructionresponse information reported by UE may include the following steps:

301. When the UE is in an idle mode on the UMTS network, an RNC receivesan RRC connection request message sent by the UE.

The RRC connection request message includes an ID of the UE, an ID of acell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the UMTS network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the RNC. Because the RNC and the UE are onthe same UMTS network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the RNC and the UE, so that communication between the RNC andthe UE may be implemented. When the UE is in the idle mode on the UMTSnetwork, the UE generates the radio resource control (RRC) connectionrequest message, and adds, to the RRC connection request message, the IDof the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE; then, the UE maysend the RRC connection request message to the RNC.

When the UE is in the Idle mode on the UMTS network, the RNC receives,by using the UMTS network, the RRC connection request message sent bythe UE. After the RNC acquires, from the RRC connection request message,the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE, the RNC sends anRRC connection setup message to the UE by using the UMTS network. Itshould be noted that when the UE is in the Idle mode on the UMTSnetwork, an ordinary location update, a periodic location update, and anattach process of the UE are all non-access stratum (NAS) messages fromthe UE to a core network. Before sending the NAS message, the UE needsto execute an RRC connection setup process first, and therefore the RNCmay acquire the instruction response information of the UE by using amessage in the RRC connection setup process.

302. The RNC acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived RRC connection request message.

It should be noted that the RRC connection request message is theinstruction response information reported by the UE in the foregoingembodiment. In some embodiments of the present invention, specifically,the RNC may perform calculation on the received instruction responseinformation, so as to acquire the location information of the UE. Afterobtaining location information of the UE by means of calculation, theRNC may send the location information to a data storage, analysis andopen platform. The data storage, analysis and open platform performsfurther data analysis on these pieces of location information of the UEfor application to a variety of industry applications such astransportation planning and marketing analysis. The data storage,analysis and open platform, specially used for storing and analyzing bigdata, may be independent of an existing mobile communication network andmay be a new device superimposed over the mobile communication network.In some other embodiments of the present invention, the RNC may alsosend the received instruction response information to a data storage,analysis and open platform, and the data storage, analysis and openplatform obtains the location information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the instruction response information.

After the RNC receives the instruction response information reported bythe UE, the RNC sends the received instruction response information tothe data storage, analysis and open platform, and the data storage,analysis and open platform obtains the location information of the UE bymeans of calculation according to the instruction response informationof the UE. That is, after the RNC receives the instruction responseinformation of the UE, the data storage, analysis and open platformobtains the location information of the UE by means of calculation;therefore, distributed deployment of devices can be implemented toreduce a performance requirement on a single device, and calculation forthe location information of the UE can also be implemented. For example,when the RNC has a limited calculation capability or load balancingneeds to be performed, if a large amount of instruction responseinformation reported by the UE is received, the RNC may obtain somelocation information of the UE by means of calculation, and sendsinstruction response information beyond a calculation capability of theRNC to the data storage, analysis and open platform, and the datastorage, analysis and open platform obtains the other locationinformation of the UE by means of calculation, so that distributeddeployment of devices can be implemented.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,when the UE is in the Idle mode on the UMTS network, the UE generallycannot periodically acquire the location information of the UE as the UEdoes in a Cell DCH state, and therefore obtains relatively less locationinformation. Therefore, the method is suitable for performingstatistical trend analysis on clustered locations of users on the entireUMTS network.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,when the UE is in the Idle mode on the UMTS network, because thelocation information of the UE can be acquired by using the RRCconnection request message sent by the UE, the location information ofthe UE can be acquired no matter whether the UE performs a CS domainservice or a PS domain service. In another method for collectinglocation information existing in the prior art, a standard Iu interfacemessage is acquired by disposing a probe on an Iu interface, so as toacquire location information of UE. In this external probe solution,only location information existing when the UE is on a CS domain voicecall is collected, and location information existing when the UEperforms PS domain data communication cannot be collected. In thisembodiment of the present invention, the location information of the UEcan be acquired no matter whether the UE performs a CS domain service ora PS domain service.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because an RNC in this embodiment of thepresent invention can acquire location information of UE according to areceived RRC connection request message reported by the UE, and the UEdoes not need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the RRC connectionrequest message reported by the UE can be received provided that awireless network signal is available. In addition, in this embodiment ofthe present invention, the location information of the UE can beacquired by using the existing mobile communication network, and the UEdoes not need to successfully log in to a server by using a specificapplication program. Therefore, the method for collecting locationinformation provided in this embodiment of the present invention is notlimited to an application scenario such as an indoor scenario, anoutdoor scenario, or whether an application program is installed;universality is very strong.

Referring to FIG. 4, when a mobile communication network is a UMTSnetwork, in a method for collecting location information provided inanother embodiment of the present invention, receiving instructionresponse information reported by UE may include the following steps:

401. When the UE is in a Cell FACH state, a Cell PCH state, or a URA PCHstate on the UMTS network, an RNC receives a Cell Update message sent bythe UE.

The Cell Update message includes an ID of the UE, an ID of a celldetected by the UE, and signal strength information of the cell detectedby the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the UMTS network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the RNC. Because the RNC and the UE are onthe same UMTS network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the RNC and the UE, so that communication between the RNC andthe UE may be implemented. When the UE is in the cell-forward accesschannel (Cell FACH) state, the cell paging channel (Cell PCH) state, orthe Universal Mobile Telecommunications System terrestrial radio accessnetwork registration area paging channel (Universal MobileTelecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access Network RegistrationArea, URA PCH) state on the UMTS network, the UE generates the cellupdate message, and adds, to the Cell Update message, an ID of a cell inwhich the UE is located, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and thesignal strength information of the cell detected by the UE; then, the UEmay send the Cell Update message to the RNC.

When the UE is in the Cell FACH state, the Cell PCH state, or the URAPCH state on the UMTS network, the RNC receives, by using the UMTSnetwork, the Cell Update message sent by the UE. After the RNC acquires,from the Cell Update message, the ID of the UE, the ID of the celldetected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE, the RNC sends a cell update confirm message to theUE by using the UMTS network. It should be noted that when the UE is inthe URA PCH state on the UMTS network, the RNC can acquire locationinformation of the UE provided that the RNC initiates a cell updateprocess only after a URA in which the UE is located changes.

402. The RNC acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived Cell Update message.

It should be noted that the Cell Update message is the instructionresponse information reported by the UE in the foregoing embodiment. Insome embodiments of the present invention, specifically, the RNC mayperform calculation on the received instruction response information, soas to acquire the location information of the UE. After obtaininglocation information of the UE by means of calculation, the RNC may sendthe location information to a data storage, analysis and open platform.The data storage, analysis and open platform performs further dataanalysis on these pieces of location information of the UE forapplication to a variety of industry applications such as transportationplanning and marketing analysis. The data storage, analysis and openplatform, specially used for storing and analyzing big data, may beindependent of an existing mobile communication network and may be a newdevice superimposed over the mobile communication network. In some otherembodiments of the present invention, the RNC may also send the receivedinstruction response information to a data storage, analysis and openplatform, and the data storage, analysis and open platform obtains thelocation information of the UE by means of calculation according to theinstruction response information.

After the RNC receives the instruction response information reported bythe UE, the RNC sends the received instruction response information tothe data storage, analysis and open platform, and the data storage,analysis and open platform obtains the location information of the UE bymeans of calculation according to the instruction response informationof the UE. That is, after the RNC receives the instruction responseinformation of the UE, the data storage, analysis and open platformobtains the location information of the UE by means of calculation;therefore, distributed deployment of devices can be implemented toreduce a performance requirement on a single device, and calculation forthe location information of the UE can also be implemented. For example,when the RNC has a limited calculation capability or load balancingneeds to be performed, if a large amount of instruction responseinformation reported by the UE is received, the RNC may obtain somelocation information of the UE by means of calculation, and sendsinstruction response information beyond a calculation capability of theRNC to the data storage, analysis and open platform, and the datastorage, analysis and open platform obtains the other locationinformation of the UE by means of calculation, so that distributeddeployment of devices can be implemented.

It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present invention,when the UE is in the Cell FACH state, the Cell PCH state, or the URAPCH state on the UMTS network, because the location information of theUE can be acquired by using the Cell Update message sent by the UE, thelocation information of the UE can be acquired no matter whether the UEperforms a CS domain service or a PS domain service. In another methodfor collecting location information existing in the prior art, astandard Iu interface message is acquired by disposing a probe on an Iuinterface, so as to acquire location information of UE. In this externalprobe solution, only location information existing when the UE is on aCS domain voice call is collected, and location information existingwhen the UE performs PS domain data communication cannot be collected.In this embodiment of the present invention, the location information ofthe UE can be acquired no matter whether the UE performs a CS domainservice or a PS domain service.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because an RNC in this embodiment of thepresent invention can acquire location information of UE according to areceived Cell Update message reported by the UE, and the UE does notneed to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite, electricity ofthe UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network, no matterwhether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the Cell Update message reportedby the UE can be received provided that a wireless network signal isavailable. In addition, in this embodiment of the present invention, thelocation information of the UE can be acquired by using the existingmobile communication network, and the UE does not need to successfullylog in to a server by using a specific application program. Therefore,the method for collecting location information provided in thisembodiment of the present invention is not limited to an applicationscenario such as an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario, or whether anapplication program is installed; universality is very strong.

It should be noted that when a mobile communication network is a UMTSnetwork, in the foregoing methods for collecting location informationthat are shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 in the embodiments of the presentinvention, for signal strength information that is in each cell of theUE and that is included in the measurement report message, the signalstrength information that is in each cell of the UE and that is includedin the RRC connection request message, and the signal strengthinformation that is in each cell of the UE and that is included in theCell Update message, the signal strength information is received signalcode power (RSCP) information or ratio of energy per modulating bit tothe noise spectral density Ec/No (where Ec is energy per chip per codechannel after a spectrum is expanded at a transmit end, No is a powerspectral density of a band-limited white noise, and a ratio of the Ecand the No is referred to as Ec/No for short) information.

Referring to FIG. 5, when a mobile communication network is a long termevolution (LTE) network, a method for collecting location informationprovided in another embodiment of the present invention may include thefollowing steps:

501. When UE is in a connected mode on the LTE network, an evolved NodeB(eNodeB) sends a measurement control message to the UE by using the LTEnetwork, so that the UE measures, according to the measurement controlmessage, a cell detected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the LTE network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the eNodeB. Because the eNodeB and the UEare on the same LTE network, there is a communication connectionestablished between the eNodeB and the UE, so that communication betweenthe eNodeB and the UE may be implemented. The eNodeB delivers themeasurement control message to the UE by using the LTE network, and theUE may measure, according to an instruction of the measurement controlmessage, the cell detected by the UE. After measuring, according to themeasurement control message, the cell detected by the UE, the UE maygenerate an ID of a cell in which the UE is located and an ID of aneighboring cell of the cell. When the UE is in the connected mode onthe LTE network, the UE generates a measurement report message, andadds, to the measurement report message, the ID of the cell in which theUE is located, the ID of the neighboring cell of the cell, an ID of theUE, and signal strength information in each cell of the UE; then, the UEmay send the measurement report message to the eNodeB.

502. The eNodeB receives a measurement report message sent by the UE.

The measurement report message includes the ID of the UE, an ID of thecell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

When the UE is in the connected mode on the LTE network, the eNodeBreceives, by using the LTE network, the measurement report message sentby the UE. It should be noted that in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the UE may periodically report the Measurement Report messageto the eNodeB, for example, report the Measurement Report message of theUE once every 12 s, and the Measurement Report message may be theinstruction response information described in the foregoing embodiment.In addition, the UE also reports the Measurement Report message to theeNodeB when the UE initiates handover, and the Measurement Reportmessage may also be used for location calculation for the UE. Because apiece of longitude and latitude location information of the UE may beobtained by means of calculation according to each Measurement Reportmessage, location movement trail information of the UE may be obtained.

It should be noted that in a mobile communication network whose standardis LTE, because identity information (for example, an IMSI) of the UEcannot be acquired on a radio access network (RAN) side, each piece oflocation information of the UE needs to be acquired by means ofcoordination between the RAN side and an evolved packet core (EPC) andby using an S1 application protocol identity (AP ID) as a link ofassociation. After receiving the measurement report message sent by theUE, the eNodeB associates a cell message of the UE with an S1 AP ID ofthe UE. Then, after acquiring the location information of the UE, theeNodeB forms an association between the location information of the UEand the S1 AP ID of the UE. The EPC may acquire the identity information(for example, an IMSI) of the UE, and forms an association with the S1AP ID of the UE. Then, the eNodeB obtains, by using the S1 AP ID of theUE, a combination relationship between the location information of theUE and the ID of the UE from the two associations.

503. The eNodeB acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived measurement report message.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because an eNodeB in this embodiment of thepresent invention may deliver a location subscription instruction to UE,and may acquire location information of the UE according to a receivedmeasurement report message sent by the UE, and the UE does not need tolocate a location of the UE by using a satellite, electricity of the UEmay be saved. For a mobile communication network, no matter whether theUE is indoors or outdoors, the measurement report message sent by the UEcan be received provided that a wireless network signal is available. Inaddition, in this embodiment of the present invention, the locationinformation of the UE can be acquired by using the existing mobilecommunication network, and the UE does not need to successfully log into a server by using a specific application program. Therefore, themethod for collecting location information provided in this embodimentof the present invention is not limited to an application scenario suchas an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario, or whether an applicationprogram is installed; universality is very strong.

Referring to FIG. 6, when a mobile communication network is an LTEnetwork, in a method for collecting location information provided inanother embodiment of the present invention, receiving instructionresponse information reported by UE may include the following steps:

601. When the UE is in an idle mode on the LTE network, an eNodeBreceives an RRC connection request message sent by the UE.

The RRC connection request message includes an ID of the UE, an ID of acell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

The eNodeB sends a location subscription instruction to the UE by usingthe LTE network, so that the UE measures, according to the locationsubscription instruction, the cell detected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the LTE network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the eNodeB. Because the eNodeB and the UEare on the same LTE network, there is a communication connectionestablished between the eNodeB and the UE, so that communication betweenthe eNodeB and the UE may be implemented. When the UE is in the Idlemode on the LTE network, the UE generates the RRC connection requestmessage, and adds, to the RRC connection request message, an ID of acell in which the UE is located, an ID of a neighboring cell of thecell, the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and thesignal strength information of the cell detected by the UE; then, the UEmay send the RRC connection request message to the eNodeB.

602. The eNodeB acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived RRC connection request message.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because an eNodeB in this embodiment of thepresent invention can acquire location information of UE according to areceived RRC connection request message reported by the UE, and the UEdoes not need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the RRC connectionrequest message reported by the UE can be received provided that awireless network signal is available. In addition, in this embodiment ofthe present invention, the location information of the UE can beacquired by using the existing mobile communication network, and the UEdoes not need to successfully log in to a server by using a specificapplication program. Therefore, the method for collecting locationinformation provided in this embodiment of the present invention is notlimited to an application scenario such as an indoor scenario, anoutdoor scenario, or whether an application program is installed;universality is very strong.

It should be noted that when the mobile communication network is the LTEnetwork, in the foregoing methods for collecting location informationthat are shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 in the embodiments of the presentinvention, for the signal strength information that is in each cell ofthe UE and that is included in the measurement report message and thesignal strength information that is in each cell of the UE and that isincluded in the RRC connection request message, the signal strengthinformation is reference signal received power (RSRP) information orreference signal received quality (RSRQ) information.

Referring to FIG. 7, when a mobile communication network is a globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM) network, a method for collectinglocation information provided in another embodiment of the presentinvention may include the following steps:

701. When UE is in a general packet radio service transfer (GPRSTransfer) state on the GSM network, a base station controller (BSC)sends a measurement control message to the UE by using the GSM network,so that the UE measures, according to the measurement control message, acell detected by the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the GSM network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the BSC. Because the BSC and the UE are onthe same GSM network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the BSC and the UE, so that communication between the BSC andthe UE may be implemented. The BSC delivers the measurement controlmessage to the UE by using the GSM network, and the UE may measure,according to an instruction of the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE. After measuring, according to the measurementcontrol message, the cell detected by the UE, the UE may generate an IDof a cell in which the UE is located and an ID of a neighboring cell ofthe cell. When the UE is in the GPRS Transfer mode on the GSM network,the UE generates a measurement report message, and adds, to themeasurement report message, the ID of the cell in which the UE islocated, the ID of the neighboring cell of the cell, an ID of the celldetected by the UE, and signal strength information of the cell detectedby the UE; then, the UE may send the measurement report message to theBSC.

702. The BSC receives a measurement report message sent by the UE.

The measurement report message includes an ID of the UE, the ID of thecell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

When the UE is in the GPRS Transfer mode on the GSM network, the BSCreceives, by using the GSM network, the measurement report message sentby the UE. It should be noted that in this embodiment of the presentinvention, the UE may periodically report the Measurement Report messageto the BSC, for example, report the Measurement Report message of the UEonce every 12 s, where the Measurement Report message may be theinstruction response information described in the foregoing embodiment.In addition, the UE also reports the Measurement Report message to theBSC when the UE initiates handover, and the Measurement Report messagemay also be used for location calculation for the UE. Because a piece oflongitude and latitude location information of the UE may be obtained bymeans of calculation according to each Measurement Report message,location movement trail information of the UE may be obtained.

703. The BSC acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived measurement report message.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because a BSC in this embodiment of thepresent invention may deliver a location subscription instruction to UE,and may acquire location information of the UE according to a receivedmeasurement report message sent by the UE, and the UE does not need tolocate a location of the UE by using a satellite, electricity of the UEmay be saved. For a mobile communication network, no matter whether theUE is indoors or outdoors, the measurement report message sent by the UEcan be received provided that a wireless network signal is available. Inaddition, in this embodiment of the present invention, the locationinformation of the UE can be acquired by using the existing mobilecommunication network, and the UE does not need to successfully log into a server by using a specific application program. Therefore, themethod for collecting location information provided in this embodimentof the present invention is not limited to an application scenario suchas an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario, or whether an applicationprogram is installed; universality is very strong.

Referring to FIG. 8, when a mobile communication network is a GSMnetwork, in a method for collecting location information provided inanother embodiment of the present invention, receiving instructionresponse information reported by UE may include the following steps:

801. When the UE is in a GPRS Packet Idle mode on the GSM network, a BSCreceives a connection request message sent by the UE.

The connection request message includes an ID of the UE, an ID of a cellin which the UE is located, an ID of a neighboring cell of the cell, andsignal strength information in each cell of the UE.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobilecommunication network is the GSM network, a device for collectinglocation information may be the BSC. Because the BSC and the UE are onthe same GSM network, there is a communication connection establishedbetween the BSC and the UE, so that communication between the BSC andthe UE may be implemented. When the UE is in the general packet radioservice packet idle (GPRS Packet Idle) state on the GSM network, the UEgenerates the connection request message, and adds, to the connectionrequest message, the ID of the cell in which the UE is located, an ID ofa cell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE; then, the UE may send the RRC connection requestmessage to the BSC.

802. The BSC acquires location information of the UE according to thereceived connection request message.

It can be learned from the foregoing description in this embodiment ofthe present invention that, because a BSC in this embodiment of thepresent invention can acquire location information of UE according to areceived connection request message reported by the UE, and the UE doesnot need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the connection requestmessage reported by the UE can be received provided that a wirelessnetwork signal is available. In addition, in this embodiment of thepresent invention, the location information of the UE can be acquired byusing the existing mobile communication network, and the UE does notneed to successfully log in to a server by using a specific applicationprogram. Therefore, the method for collecting location informationprovided in this embodiment of the present invention is not limited toan application scenario such as an indoor scenario, an outdoor scenario,or whether an application program is installed; universality is verystrong.

It should be noted that when the mobile communication network is the GSMnetwork, in the foregoing methods for collecting location informationthat are shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 in the embodiments of the presentinvention, for the signal strength information that is in each cell ofthe UE and that is included in the measurement report message and thesignal strength information that is in each cell of the UE and that isincluded in the RRC connection request message, the signal strengthinformation is received signal strength indicator (RSSI) information.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention aredescribed above in detail by using multiple standards of mobilecommunication networks shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 8 as examples. However,the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to theforegoing described UMTS network, LTE network, and GSM network. Themethod for collecting location information provided in the embodimentsof the present invention may also be applied to other network standardsof mobile communication networks. For example, the method for collectinglocation information in the present invention may also be applied tomultiple standards of mobile communication networks, such as a CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a time division-synchronouscode division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) network, a worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (Wimax) network, and a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) network. On the CDMA network, the TD-SCDMAnetwork, the Wimax network, and the WLAN network, the locationinformation of the UE may be acquired according to a specific networkarchitecture and a specific protocol manner. The description herein isonly for an illustration purpose.

To better understand and implement the foregoing solutions in theembodiments of the present invention, the following provides detaileddescription by using corresponding application scenarios as examples.

Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of composition of anetwork architecture of a system for collecting location informationthat is implemented according to a method for collecting locationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention. Thefollowing illustrative description is made as a process of datasubscription, collection and reporting.

The network architecture of the system for collecting locationinformation that is implemented according to the method for collectinglocation information and that is provided in this embodiment of thepresent invention is divided into three layers: a source data collectionlayer, a data aggregation, analysis and open layer, and a dataapplication layer. The source data collection layer includes networkelements and UE on a mobile communication network. FIG. 9 shows a UMTSnetwork, an LTE network, a GSM network, a serving GPRS support node(SGSN)/mobility management entity (MME), a gateway GPRS support node(GGSN)/packet data network gateway (PGW), and UE 1, UE 2, and UE 3 ondifferent mobile communication networks. The GSM network includes a basetransceiver station (BTS) and a BSC. The UMTS network includes a NodeB(Node B) and an RNC. The data aggregation, analysis and open layerincludes a data storage, analysis and open platform. The data storage,analysis and open platform is independent of the GSM network, the UMTSnetwork, and the LTE network, and is a new device superimposed over eachmobile communication network. The data storage, analysis and openplatform analyzes location information of the UE reported on each mobilecommunication network. The data application layer includes a third-partyapplication server used in various industries and fields, for example,used in multiple third-party applications such as transportationplanning, disaster relief, safe city, regional insight, and guest sourceanalysis.

The following describes a work process of each component in the systemfor collecting location information provided in this embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is a schematic diagramof a work process of each component in a system for collecting locationinformation according to an embodiment of the present invention, and theprocess mainly includes the following steps:

S01. A third-party application server enters an application-specificdata subscription request into a data storage, analysis and openplatform according to a requirement of the third-party applicationserver, so as to request for location information data of a user.

S02. The data storage, analysis and open platform sends, according tothe request of the application server, the data subscription request toa device for collecting location information, where an example in whichthe device for collecting location information refers to a networkelement on a mobile communication network is used for description, andeach network element on the mobile communication network receives thedata subscription request sent by the data storage, analysis and openplatform, so as to subscribes to radio signaling required for locating alocation of the user.

S03. Each network element on the mobile communication network starts asignaling collection process, that is, a network element on a radioaccess network (RAN) side starts an information collection process,where for a GSM network, the network element on the RAN side refers to aBSC; for a UMTS network, the network element on the RAN side refers toan RNC; and for an LTE network, the network element on the RAN siderefers to an eNodeB.

S04. The network element on the RAN side delivers a locationsubscription instruction to UE, so as to instruct the UE to periodicallymeasure a cell detected by the UE.

S05 a. The UE reports instruction response information of the UE, wherethe instruction response information includes an ID of the UE, an ID ofthe cell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

S05 b. The UE reports instruction response information of the UE againaccording to a measurement period.

S06. The network element on the RAN side obtains location information ofthe UE by means of calculation according to the instruction responseinformation reported by the UE.

S07. The network element on the RAN side reports the locationinformation of the UE to the data storage, analysis and open platform.

S08. The data storage, analysis and open platform stores and analyzesthe location information of the UE, provides an external digitalfootprint file that includes the location information of the UE, anduploads a data analysis result to the application server, so as toimplement responding to the request of the application server. Afterobtaining the digital footprint file from the data storage, analysis andopen platform, the third-party application server applies theinformation to industry analysis.

It should be noted that as described above, step S06 is described byusing an example in which the network element on the RAN side obtainsthe location information of the UE by means of calculation. In someother embodiments of the present invention, after the network element onthe RAN side receives the instruction response information reported bythe UE, the network element on the RAN side may further directly uploada cell message of the UE to the data storage, analysis and openplatform, and the data storage, analysis and open platform obtains thelocation information of the UE by means of calculation. Specifically, insome embodiments of the present invention, after obtaining a location ofthe UE by means of calculation, the data aggregation, analysis and openlayer outputs a data analysis result to the data application layer,where as shown in Table 1, the data analysis result may include thefollowing fields:

Field Description User ID Anonymized UE ID, for example, an anonymizedIMSI Timestamp Timestamp Longitude Longitude Latitude Latitude BSC/RNC/ID of a network element in which the UE is located eNodeB ID Cell ID IDof a cell in which the UE is located Indoor Indoor or outdoor identity:the UE is indoors or outdoors Confidence Confidence: a probability of alocation within an area range, or location precision RAT Type RAT type:GSM, UMTS, LTE, and the like Location Type Location type: featurematching, Cell ID + RTT location, AGPS location, and quick location UserStatus User in/out-zone (Zone) status: initial status, user in ZoneId,user out ZoneId, and movement within a same Zone IMSI code Country codeof an IMSI UE Status UE statuswhere the RAT refers to radio access, and is Radio Access Technology infull spelling.

In addition, in the foregoing embodiment, the example in which thedevice for collecting location information refers to the network elementon the RAN side is used for description, and then an example in whichthe network element on the RAN side performs steps S03, S04, and S06 isused for description, where the network element on the RAN side refersto the RNC/BSC/eNodeB. The RNC is used as an example. The RNC receivesthe data subscription request sent by the data storage, analysis andopen platform; the RNC delivers a data subscription instruction to theUE; and the RNC obtains the location information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the instruction response information reportedby the UE. In some embodiments of the present invention, that the devicefor collecting location information is the RNC indicates that the devicefor collecting location information is a unit of the RNC. As a unitmodule inside the RNC, the device for collecting location information isconfigured to receive the data subscription request sent by the datastorage, analysis and open platform, deliver the data subscriptioninstruction to the UE, and obtain the location information of the UE bymeans of calculation according to the instruction response informationreported by the UE. Similarly, that the device for collecting locationinformation is the BSC/eNodeB indicates that the device for collectinglocation information is a unit module of the BSC/eNodeB. As a unitmodule inside the BSC/eNodeB, the device for collecting locationinformation is configured to receive the data subscription request sentby the data storage, analysis and open platform, deliver the datasubscription instruction to the UE, and obtain the location informationof the UE by means of calculation according to the instruction responseinformation reported by the UE.

There may be multiple specific implementation manners of the device forcollecting location information on the mobile communication network inthis embodiment of the present invention. The following describes, byusing examples, implementation manners of devices for collectinglocation information on the GSM network and the UMTS network.

Referring to FIG. 11-a, the device for collecting location informationis not built inside the RNC/BSC, but is used as an independent externalunit module. There is a communications interface between a device A forcollecting location information (a device A shown in the figure) and theBSC; there is a communications interface between a device B forcollecting location information (a device B shown in the figure) and theRNC. Both the device A for collecting location information and thedevice B for collecting location information are configured to deliver alocation subscription instruction to the UE and receive instructionresponse information reported by the UE. The RNC/BSC is separatelyexternally connected to one device for collecting location information.

Referring to FIG. 11-b, the device for collecting location informationis not built inside the RNC/BSC, but is used as an independent externalunit module. There is a communications interface between the device forcollecting location information and the RNC and a communicationsinterface between the device for collecting location information and theBSC. The device for collecting location information is configured todeliver a location subscription instruction to the UE and receiveinstruction response information reported by the UE. The RNC/BSC arejointly externally connected to the same device for collecting locationinformation.

Referring to FIG. 11-c, the device for collecting location informationis not built inside the RNC/BSC, but is used as an independent externalunit module. A device A for collecting location information (a device Ashown in the figure) is deployed between a BTS and the BSC, and thedevice A for collecting location information has two communicationsinterfaces that are separately connected to the BTS and the BSC. Adevice B for collecting location information (a device B shown in thefigure) is deployed between a NodeB and the RNC, and the device B forcollecting location information has two communications interfaces thatare separately connected to the NodeB and the RNC. Both the device A forcollecting location information and the device B for collecting locationinformation are configured to deliver a location subscriptioninstruction to the UE and receive instruction response informationreported by the UE.

Referring to FIG. 11-d, the device for collecting location informationis deployed inside the data storage, analysis and open platform, and isa unit module in the data storage, analysis and open platform. There isa communications interface between the device for collecting locationinformation and the RNC, and a communications interface between thedevice for collecting location information and the BSC. The device forcollecting location information is configured to deliver a locationsubscription instruction to the UE and receive instruction responseinformation reported by the UE. The RNC/BSC is separately externallyconnected to the same device for collecting location information.

Referring to FIG. 11-e, the device for collecting location informationis not built inside the RNC/BSC, but is used as an independent externalunit module. There is a communications interface between a device A forcollecting location information (a device A shown in the figure) and theBSC; there is a communications interface between a device B forcollecting location information (a device B shown in the figure) and theRNC. Both the device A for collecting location information and thedevice B for collecting location information are configured to deliver alocation subscription instruction to the UE and receive instructionresponse information reported by the UE. The RNC/BSC is separatelyexternally connected to one device for collecting location information.There is a communications interface between devices for collectinglocation information that are between different RNCs, between differentBSCs, or between different RNC and BSC, and may transfer signaling datato each other. When a processing capability of a device for collectinglocation information on an RNC or a BSC is overloaded, signaling thatcannot be processed due to overload may be transferred to the otherdevice for collecting location information, and the other device forcollecting location information processes the signaling, which mayimplement load balancing.

Referring to FIG. 11-f, the device for collecting location informationis not built inside the RNC/BSC, but is used as an independent externalunit module. There is a communications interface between a device A forcollecting location information (a device A shown in the figure) and theBSC; there is a communications interface between a device B forcollecting location information (a device B shown in the figure) and theRNC. Both the device A for collecting location information and thedevice B for collecting location information are configured to deliver alocation subscription instruction to the UE and receive instructionresponse information reported by the UE. The RNC/BSC is separatelyexternally connected to one device for collecting location information.There is a communications interface between a device C for collectinglocation information (a device C shown in the figure) deployed on thedata storage, analysis and open platform and a device for collectinglocation information that is between different RNCs, between differentBSCs, or between different RNC and BSC, so that signaling data may betransferred between the devices. When a processing capability of adevice for collecting location information on an RNC or a BSC isoverloaded, signaling that cannot be processed due to overload may betransferred to the other device for collecting location information, andthe other device for collecting location information processes thesignaling, which may implement load balancing.

It can be learned from the description in this embodiment of the presentinvention that, in this embodiment of the present invention, locationinformation of users on an entire network may be collected and acquiredby using a mobile communication network, and may be adjusted bycontrolling both frequency of generating signaling and impact on networkload can be controlled and according to an application requirement.Then, digital footprint information is opened by providing a standardinterface, so as to support various commercial applications of anoperator and a third party. Various industry applications such astransportation planning and market analysis may be implemented accordingto digital footprint information of users. In this embodiment of thepresent invention, the digital footprint information that includes thelocation information of the users can be collected. The method forcollecting location information provided in this embodiment of thepresent invention has the following advantages: 1. high user andgeographic range coverage; 2. high precision; 3. low deployment costs;4. a wide range of data sources that can be acquired; 5. betterprotecting user privacy by using a credit limit and a security mechanismof an operator; and 6. better supporting multiple applications by usinga uniform data storage and analysis platform of the operator, therebyreducing a development period and development costs of a locationapplication.

It should be noted that for brief description, the foregoing methodembodiments are described as a series of action combinations. However,persons skilled in the art should understand that the present inventionis not limited to the described order of the actions, because accordingto the present invention, some steps may be performed in another orderor simultaneously. In addition, persons skilled in the art should alsounderstand that all embodiments described in this specification belongto exemplary embodiments, and the involved actions and modules are notnecessarily required in the present invention.

To better implement the foregoing solutions in the embodiments of thepresent invention, the following further provides a relevant apparatusconfigured to implement the foregoing solutions.

Referring to FIG. 12-a, a device 1200 for collecting locationinformation provided in an embodiment of the present invention mayinclude an instruction sending module 1201, an information receivingmodule 1202, and a location information acquiring module 1203, where theinstruction sending module 1201 is configured to send a locationsubscription instruction to user equipment UE by using a mobilecommunication network, where the location subscription instructionincludes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected by the UE;

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to receiveinstruction response information reported by the UE, where theinstruction response information includes an ID of the UE, an ID of thecell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE; and

the location information acquiring module 1203 is configured to acquirelocation information of the UE according to the received instructionresponse information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network,and when the UE is in a cell-dedicated channel Cell DCH state on theUMTS network, the device for collecting location information is a radionetwork controller RNC;

the instruction sending module 1201 is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the UMTS network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to receive ameasurement report message sent by the UE, where the measurement reportmessage includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by theUE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a UMTS network, and the device for collecting locationinformation is a radio network controller RNC; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to: when the UE isin an idle mode on the UMTS network, receive a radio resource control(RRC) connection request message sent by the UE, where the RRCconnection request message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the celldetected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a UMTS network, and the device for collecting locationinformation is a radio network controller RNC; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to: when the UE isin a cell-forward access channel Cell FACH state, a cell paging channelCell PCH state, or a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systemterrestrial radio access network registration area paging channel URAPCH state on the UMTS network, receive a cell update message sent by theUE, where the cell update message includes the ID of the UE, an ID of acell in which the UE is located, the ID of the cell detected by the UE,and the signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the information receiving module 1202 isreceived signal code power RSCP information or ratio of energy permodulating bit to the noise spectral density Ec/No information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Long Term Evolution LTE network, and when the UE is in aconnected mode on the LTE network,

the device for collecting location information is an evolved NodeBeNodeB;

the instruction sending module 1201 is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the LTE network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to receive ameasurement report message sent by the UE, where the measurement reportmessage includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by theUE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is an LTE network, and the device for collecting locationinformation is an evolved NodeB eNodeB; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to: when the UE isin an idle mode on the LTE network, receive an RRC connection requestmessage sent by the UE, where the RRC connection request messageincludes an S1AP ID of the UE, an ID of a cell in which the UE islocated, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the information receiving module 1202 isreference signal received power RSRP information or reference signalreceived quality RSRQ information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Global System for Mobile Communications GSM network, andwhen the UE is in a general packet radio service transfer GPRS Transfermode on the GSM network, the device for collecting location informationis a base station controller BSC;

the instruction sending module 1201 is configured to send a measurementcontrol message to the UE by using the GSM network, so that the UEmeasures, according to the measurement control message, the celldetected by the UE; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to receive ameasurement report message sent by the UE, where the measurement reportmessage includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by theUE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a GSM network, and the device for collecting locationinformation is a base station controller BSC; and

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to: when the UE isin a general packet radio service packet idle GPRS Packet Idle mode onthe GSM network, receive an RRC connection request message sent by theUE, where the RRC connection request message includes the ID of the UE,the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the information receiving module 1202 isreceived signal strength indicator RSSI information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, compared with the device1200 for collecting location information shown in FIG. 12-a, referringto FIG. 12-b, the device 1200 for collecting location informationfurther includes an encryption module 1204, configured to: after thelocation information acquiring module receives the instruction responseinformation reported by the UE, encrypt the ID that is of the UE andthat is included in the instruction response information, to obtain ananonymous identity, where the anonymous identity is in a one-to-onecorrespondence with the ID of the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the ID that is of the UEand that is included in the instruction response information received bythe information receiving module 1202 is an international mobilesubscriber identity IMSI.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the location subscriptioninstruction sent by the instruction sending module 1201 includes:instructing the UE to measure, according to a preconfigured measurementperiod, the cell detected by the UE;

the information receiving module 1202 is configured to receive multiplepieces of instruction response information reported by the UE accordingto the preconfigured measurement period; and

the location information acquiring module 1203 is configured to obtainlocation movement information of the UE by means of calculationaccording to the multiple pieces of received instruction responseinformation.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the location informationacquiring module 1203 is configured to send the received instructionresponse information to a data storage, analysis and open platform, andthe data storage, analysis and open platform obtains the locationinformation of the UE by means of calculation according to theinstruction response information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, first, an instructionsending module sends a location subscription instruction to UE by usinga mobile communication network, to instruct the UE to measure, accordingto the location subscription instruction, a cell detected by the UE;after the UE generates, according to the location subscriptioninstruction, an ID of the cell detected by the UE and signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the UE, instruction responseinformation reported by the UE is received, where the instructionresponse information includes an ID of the UE, the ID of the celldetected by the UE, and the signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE; finally, a location information acquiring module mayacquire location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, because a location subscription instruction may be deliveredto UE, location information of the UE may be acquired according toreceived instruction response information reported by the UE, and the UEdoes not need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the instructionresponse information reported by the UE can be received provided that awireless network signal is available. In addition, in this embodiment ofthe present invention, the location information of the UE can beacquired by using the existing mobile communication network, and the UEdoes not need to successfully log in to a server by using a specificapplication program; therefore, a problem of application programpromotion does not exist. Therefore, the method for collecting locationinformation provided in this embodiment of the present invention is notlimited to an application scenario such as an indoor scenario, anoutdoor scenario, or whether an application program is installed;universality is very strong.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computerstorage medium, where the computer storage medium stores a program andthe program performs some or all of steps described in the foregoingmethod embodiments.

The following describes another device for collecting locationinformation provided in an embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 13, a device 1300 for collecting location informationincludes:

an input apparatus 1301, an output apparatus 1302, a processor 1303, anda memory 1304 (there may be one or more processors 1303 in the device1300 for collecting location information, and one processor is used asan example in FIG. 13). In some embodiments of the present invention,the input apparatus 1301, the output apparatus 1302, the processor 1303,and the memory 1304 may be connected by using a bus or in anothermanner. In FIG. 13, a bus connection is used as an example.

The memory 1304 is configured to store an instruction and code.

The processor 1303 is configured to perform the following steps:

sending a location subscription instruction to user equipment UE byusing a mobile communication network, where the location subscriptioninstruction includes: instructing the UE to measure a cell detected bythe UE;

receiving instruction response information reported by the UE, where theinstruction response information includes an ID of the UE, an ID of thecell detected by the UE, and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE; and

acquiring location information of the UE according to the receivedinstruction response information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network,and when the UE is in a cell-dedicated channel Cell DCH state on theUMTS network, the processor 1303 is configured to perform the followingsteps:

sending a measurement control message to the UE by using the UMTSnetwork, so that the UE measures, according to the measurement controlmessage, the cell detected by the UE; and receiving a measurement reportmessage sent by the UE, where the measurement report message includesthe ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a UMTS network, and the processor 1303 is configured toperform the following step:

when the UE is in an idle mode on the UMTS network, receiving a radioresource control (RRC) connection request message sent by the UE, wherethe RRC connection request message includes the ID of the UE, an ID of acell in which the UE is located, the ID of the cell detected by the UE,and the signal strength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a UMTS network, and the processor 1303 is configured toperform the following step:

when the UE is in a cell-forward access channel (Cell FACH) state, acell paging channel (Cell PCH) state, or a universal mobiletelecommunications system terrestrial radio access network registrationarea paging channel (URA PCH) state on a UMTS network, receiving a cellupdate message sent by the UE, where the cell update message includesthe ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the processor 1303 is received signal code powerRSCP information or ratio of energy per modulating bit to the noisespectral density Ec/No information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Long Term Evolution LTE network, and when the UE is in aconnected mode on the LTE network, the processor 1303 is configured toperform the following steps: sending a measurement control message tothe UE by using the LTE network, so that the UE measures, according tothe measurement control message, the cell detected by the UE; andreceiving a measurement report message sent by the UE, where themeasurement report message includes an S1 Application Protocol identityAP ID of the UE, an ID of a cell in which the UE is located, the ID ofthe cell detected by the UE, and the signal strength information of thecell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is an LTE network, and the processor 1303 is configured toperform the following step: when the UE is in an idle mode on the LTEnetwork, receiving an RRC connection request message sent by the UE,where the RRC connection request message includes an S1AP ID of the UE,an ID of a cell in which the UE is located, the ID of the cell detectedby the UE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected bythe UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the processor 1303 is reference signal receivedpower RSRP information or reference signal received quality RSRQinformation.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a Global System for Mobile Communications GSM network, andwhen the UE is in a general packet radio service transfer GPRS Transfermode on the GSM network, the processor 1303 is configured to perform thefollowing steps: sending a measurement control message to the UE byusing the GSM network, so that the UE measures, according to themeasurement control message, the cell detected by the UE; and receivinga measurement report message sent by the UE, where the measurementreport message includes the ID of the UE, an ID of a cell in which theUE is located, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile communicationnetwork is a GSM network, and the processor 1303 is configured toperform the following step: when the UE is in a general packet radioservice packet idle GPRS Packet Idle mode on the GSM network, receivinga connection request message sent by the UE, where the connectionrequest message includes the ID of the UE, the ID of the cell detectedby the UE, and the signal strength information of the cell detected bythe UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the signal strengthinformation received by the processor 1303 is received signal strengthindicator RSSI information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 1303 isfurther configured to perform the following step: after receiving theinstruction response information reported by the UE, encrypting the IDthat is of the UE and that is included in the instruction responseinformation, to obtain an anonymous identity, where the anonymousidentity is in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID of the UE.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the ID that is of the UEand that is included in the instruction response information received bythe processor 1303 is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the location subscriptioninstruction includes: instructing the UE to measure, according to apreconfigured measurement period, the cell detected by the UE; and

the processor 1303 is configured to perform the following steps:receiving multiple pieces of instruction response information reportedby the UE according to the preconfigured measurement period; andobtaining location movement information of the UE by means ofcalculation according to the multiple pieces of received instructionresponse information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 1303 isconfigured to perform the following step: sending the receivedinstruction response information to a data storage, analysis and openplatform, and the data storage, analysis and open platform obtains thelocation information of the UE by means of calculation according to theinstruction response information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, first, a locationsubscription instruction is sent to UE by using a mobile communicationnetwork, so as to instruct the UE to measure, according to the locationsubscription instruction, a cell detected by the UE; after the UEgenerates, according to the location subscription instruction, an ID ofthe cell detected by the UE and signal strength information of the celldetected by the UE, instruction response information reported by the UEis received, where the instruction response information includes an IDof the UE, the ID of the cell detected by the UE, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the UE; finally, locationinformation of the UE may be acquired according to the receivedinstruction response information. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, because a location subscription instruction may be deliveredto UE, location information of the UE may be acquired according toreceived instruction response information reported by the UE, and the UEdoes not need to locate a location of the UE by using a satellite,electricity of the UE may be saved. For a mobile communication network,no matter whether the UE is indoors or outdoors, the instructionresponse information reported by the UE can be received provided that awireless network signal is available. In addition, in this embodiment ofthe present invention, the location information of the UE can beacquired by using the existing mobile communication network, and the UEdoes not need to successfully log in to a server by using a specificapplication program; therefore, a problem of application programpromotion does not exist. Therefore, the method for collecting locationinformation provided in this embodiment of the present invention is notlimited to an application scenario such as an indoor scenario, anoutdoor scenario, or whether an application program is installed;universality is very strong.

In addition, it should be noted that the described apparatus embodimentis merely exemplary. The units described as separate parts may or maynot be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may notbe physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributedon a plurality of network units. Some or all of the modules may beselected according to actual requirements to achieve the objectives ofthe solutions of the embodiments. In addition, in the accompanyingdrawings of the apparatus embodiments provided by the present invention,connection relationships between modules indicate that the modules havecommunication connections with each other, which may be implemented asone or more communications buses or signal cables. Persons of ordinaryskill in the art may understand and implement the embodiments of thepresent invention without creative efforts.

Based on the description of the foregoing implementation manners,persons skilled in the art may clearly understand that the presentinvention may be implemented by software in addition to necessaryuniversal hardware, or by dedicated hardware, including anapplication-specific integrated circuit, a dedicated CPU, a dedicatedmemory, a dedicated component, and the like. Generally, any functionsthat can be performed by a computer program can be easily implemented byusing corresponding hardware. Moreover, a specific hardware structureused to achieve a same function may be of various forms, for example, ina form of an analog circuit, a digital circuit, a dedicated circuit, orthe like. However, as for the present invention, software programimplementation is a better implementation manner in most cases. Based onsuch an understanding, the technical solutions of the present inventionessentially or the part contributing to the prior art may be implementedin a form of a software product. The software product is stored in areadable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a USB flash drive, aremovable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory(RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc of a computer, and includesseveral instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be apersonal computer, a server, a network device, and the like) to performthe methods described in the embodiments of the present invention.

The foregoing embodiments are merely intended for describing thetechnical solutions of the present invention, but not for limiting thepresent invention. Although the present invention is described in detailwith reference to the foregoing embodiments, persons of ordinary skillin the art should understand that they may still make modifications tothe technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or makeequivalent replacements to some technical features thereof, withoutdeparting from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodimentsof the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for collecting location information of aterminal in a mobile communication network, comprising: acquiring, by adata open platform device, location information of the terminal from oneor more network elements in the mobile communication network, whereinthe location information includes a digital footprint of the terminaland an identity of the terminal, wherein the digital footprint comprisesa movement trail of the terminal; encrypting, by the data open platformdevice, the identity of the terminal to obtain an anonymous identity,wherein the anonymous identity is in a one-to-one correspondence withthe identity of the terminal; sending, by the data open platform device,the digital footprint of the terminal and the anonymous identity of theterminal to an application server.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the acquiring the location information of the terminal from theone or more network elements in the mobile communication networkcomprises: sending a location subscription instruction to the terminalusing the mobile communication network, wherein the locationsubscription instruction is used to instruct the terminal to measure acell detected by the terminal; receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the terminal, wherein the instruction responseinformation comprises the identity of the terminal, an identity of thecell detected by the terminal, and signal strength information of thecell detected by the terminal; and acquiring the location information ofthe terminal according to the instruction response information.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the mobile communication network isa universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network, and whenthe terminal is in a cell-dedicated channel (Cell DCH) state on the UMTSnetwork, the sending the location subscription instruction to theterminal using the mobile communication network comprises: sending, by aradio network controller (RNC), a measurement control message to theterminal using the UMTS network; and the receiving instruction responseinformation reported by the terminal comprises: receiving, by the RNC, ameasurement report message sent by the terminal, wherein the measurementreport message comprises the identity of the terminal, the identity ofthe cell detected by the terminal, and the signal strength informationof the cell detected by the terminal.
 4. The method according to claim2, wherein the terminal is in an idle mode on a universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS) network, and wherein the receiving theinstruction response information reported by the terminal comprises:receiving, by a radio network controller (RNC), a radio resource control(RRC) connection request message sent by the terminal, wherein the RRCconnection request message comprises the identity of the terminal, theidentity of the cell detected by the terminal, and the signal strengthinformation of the cell detected by the terminal.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the terminal is in a cell-forward accesschannel (Cell FACH) state, a cell paging channel (Cell PCH) state, or auniversal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radioaccess network registration area paging channel (URA PCH) state on aUMTS network, and wherein the receiving the instruction responseinformation reported by the terminal comprises: receiving, by a radionetwork controller (RNC), a cell update message sent by the terminal,wherein the cell update message comprises the identity of the terminal,the identity of the cell detected by the terminal, and the signalstrength information of the cell detected by the terminal.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 3, wherein the signal strength information isreceived signal code power (RSCP) information or ratio of energy permodulating bit to the noise spectral density (Ec/No) information.
 7. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the mobile communication network isa Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and the terminal is in a connectedmode on the LTE network, and wherein the sending the locationsubscription instruction to the terminal by using the mobilecommunication network comprises: sending, by an evolved NodeB (eNodeB),a measurement control message to the terminal by using the LTE network;and the receiving the instruction response information reported by theterminal comprises: receiving, by the eNodeB, a measurement reportmessage sent by the terminal, wherein the measurement report messagecomprises the identity of the terminal, the identity of the celldetected by the terminal, and the signal strength information of thecell detected by the terminal.
 8. The method according to claim 2,wherein the terminal is in an idle mode on a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network, and wherein the receiving the instruction response informationreported by the terminal comprises: receiving, by an evolved NodeB(eNodeB), a radio resource control (RRC) connection request message sentby the terminal, wherein the RRC connection request message comprisesthe identity of the terminal, the identity of the cell detected by theterminal, and the signal strength information of the cell detected bythe terminal.
 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the signalstrength information is reference signal received power (RSRP)information or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) information. 10.The method according to claim 2, wherein the mobile communicationnetwork is a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, andthe terminal is in a general packet radio service transfer (GPRSTransfer) state on the GSM network, wherein the sending the locationsubscription instruction to the terminal using the mobile communicationnetwork comprises: sending, by a base station controller (BSC), ameasurement control message to the terminal by using the GSM network;and the receiving the instruction response information reported by theterminal comprises: receiving, by the BSC, a measurement report messagesent by the terminal, wherein the measurement report message comprisesthe identity of the terminal, the identity of the cell detected by theterminal, and the signal strength information of the cell detected bythe terminal.
 11. The method according to claim 2, wherein the terminalis in a general packet radio service packet idle (GPRS Packet Idle) modeon a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, and whereinthe receiving the instruction response information reported by theterminal comprises: receiving, by a base station controller (BSC), aconnection request message sent by the terminal, wherein the connectionrequest message comprises the identity of the terminal, the identity ofthe cell detected by the terminal, and the signal strength informationof the cell detected by the terminal.
 12. The method according to claim1, wherein the application server comprises a third-party applicationserver.
 13. A data open platform device for collecting locationinformation of a terminal in a mobile communication network, comprising:a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; and one or moreprocessors in communication with the non-transitory memory, wherein theone or more processors are configured to execute the instructions tocause the device to: acquire location information of the terminal fromone or more network elements in the mobile communication network,wherein the location information includes a digital footprint of theterminal and an identity of the terminal, wherein the digital footprintcomprises a movement trail of the terminal; encrypt the identity of theterminal to obtain an anonymous identity, wherein the anonymous identityis in a one-to-one correspondence with the identity of the terminal; andsend the digital footprint of the terminal and the anonymous identity ofthe terminal to an application server.
 14. The data open platform deviceaccording to the claim 13, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configured to execute the instructions to cause the device to:send a location subscription instruction to the terminal using themobile communication network, wherein the location subscriptioninstruction is used to instruct the terminal to measure a cell detectedby the terminal; receive instruction response information reported bythe terminal, wherein the instruction response information comprises theidentity of the terminal, an identity of the cell detected by theterminal, and signal strength information of the cell detected by theterminal; and acquire the location information of the terminal accordingto the instruction response information.
 15. The data open platformdevice according to claim 13, wherein the application server comprises athird-party application server.